I

  Chapter 500 497【Landing in Manila】

   Half a month later, the remaining Spanish galleons and small warships came out of Manila Bay again after some repairs.

  The fleets of China and the Netherlands immediately went to surround them, and the Spanish fleet slipped away directly, leading them to Mindoro again. Then, the Spanish fleet sailed southeast without even setting up gun positions.

  Wan Bangyan and other admirals from the Datong Army were planning to pursue with all their strength, but found that Zheng Zhilong's flagship had issued a return flag order.

   At the same time, the Dutch flagship also ordered no further pursuit.

  Wan Bangyan suddenly realized that the southeast belongs to the Longtan and Tiger's Den, and he may suffer huge losses if he chases it in.

  Spain has indeed declined, but it has operated the Philippines for nearly a hundred years, and its foundation is so strong that China and the Netherlands can't compare it.

  The southern islands of the Philippines are intricate, with Spanish beacon towers everywhere, and Spanish coastal defense artillery everywhere. Before the Netherlands attacked the Spanish strongholds, they only dared to attack Cebu Island and Zamboanga, and did not dare to go deep into the southern archipelago.

  After entering, it is very likely that you will not be able to get out!

   Therefore, the Spanish fleet can hide in the southern archipelago calmly, and come out whenever it wants. However, the Chinese and Dutch fleets passed by, revealing their whereabouts every minute, and Spain has a complete early warning system there.

  Zheng Zhilong looked at the enemy ship going away, and couldn't help sneering: "You guys are too young to try to seduce me!"

  The Chinese and Dutch fleets headed back to Manila. Not long after, the Spanish warships caught up again. As soon as Zheng Zhilong set up his formation to meet the attack, the Spanish warship turned its sails and fled southeast again in a circle.

   "Don't chase him, let him go!" Zheng Zhilong ordered.

  The Chinese fleet did not pursue it, and the Dutch fleet naturally did not pursue it. The Spaniard's trick to lure the enemy has long been seen through.

   In this regard, the Chinese and Dutch fleets blocked Manila, while the Spanish fleet was stationed in Mindoro, and the two sides faced off across a sea area of ​​80 kilometers.

  The Spanish castle on Corregidor Island is still under siege by the Chinese and Dutch armies.

   This place must be removed before we can attack Manila. Because attacking Manila is not a matter of overnight, if you want to siege for a long time, you must pull out the nails in the throat.

  The "Z"-shaped trench was dug, and it took the 18th day to finally dig near the castle.

  The accompanying sea merchant Chen An said: "General Wang, if the war drags on for another month, it will be impossible to fight. Then it will be the rainy season, and it will rain every day. If you want to attack Manila, you should send troops in autumn, not in spring."

  Wang Hui was not discouraged, and said: "When the rainy season comes, build a house to live in, and continue to attack the city until autumn!"

   There is no way to send troops in autumn, and there will be multiple variables for one more day. By then, Spain will have passed its weakest time.

  Chen An sighed: "Prepare more doctors and medicinal materials."

  The hot and humid weather has caused nearly a hundred soldiers to fall ill. The soldiers of the Luzon Expeditionary Army were officers drawn from the regular army, and all the soldiers came from Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

   But the soldiers from Fujian and Guangdong couldn't handle the weather in the Philippines, because they had to dig trenches every day.

  The Spanish defenders in the castle, watching the Chinese soldiers dig trenches, digging over bit by bit, have fallen into despair at the moment.

  After approaching the castle, the artillery in the city was completely useless, and they could only rely on matchlock guns for defense.

  The **** of the outer mound has also been dug through by the Datong Army, and all the Spanish defenders near the mound withdrew into the castle. They dare not fight on the periphery, because the number is too small, and they will be piled up to death by the Datong army digging in the tunnel.

  The battle has reached this point, and Corregidor Island has basically been taken, so there is no need to spend too much troops.

  While continuing to dig the tunnel, while taking time to rest, Wang Hui ordered two-thirds of the troops to go to Manila port for landing operations.

  As for the castle on the island, dig a tunnel directly to bury the explosives.

  The method of attacking a city with explosives is difficult to deal with a strong city in China, but it can deal with this kind of bastion. The foundation of the bastion is not deep, and the walls are not thick, which is no different from the walls of a small county town.

   "Boom!"

   On the 24th day of the siege of Corregidor Island, there was a loud noise on the island, and a wall of the castle was directly blown down.

"kill!"

  Tie Hong rushed out of the trench with a wrought iron rod, and while the Spanish defenders were bombed, he led his troops to break in through the huge gap.

  This black buddy has very old qualifications. If he were replaced by a Han Chinese, he would probably have reached the level of brigade commander. But after all, this world is based on face. Although he fought bravely and worked hard to read and write, but because of his black status, he could only serve as the deputy to the main general Wang Hui.

  The Spanish defenders in other areas were quickly transferred to defend after experiencing the initial chaos.

  But the Datong army has already rushed in. The castle here is not the castle in Manila, but only the bastion and the outer slopes for defense. The **** was dug through, the castle was blown down, and they had no other choice.

  Tie Hong broke in with a stick. The cotton armor he had just put on was already sweating profusely due to the high temperature.

  A Spanish defender raised a gun at him, Tie Hong directly smashed out the wrought iron rod, and then sprang towards him. He punched the enemy knocked unconscious by the iron rod, picked up the iron rod and continued to charge, and the second enemy was smashed in the head by him.

   "Bang bang bang!"

  The Spanish garrison on the city wall began to shoot at the Datong army who rushed forward.

  When the Datong Army killed seven people, Tie Hong had already climbed up the nearest city wall along the stone steps in the city. He was followed by several men, all armed with melee weapons, who swooped in on the Spanish arquebuses firing downward.

  Spanish commander Lopez drew his saber and took a step to stab him.

   Tie Hong is tall and big, with long hands and feet, and a long wrought iron rod. He didn't take the knife seriously at all, and Lopez's neck was broken with a single blow.

  After clearing this section of the city wall, Tie Hong rushed to another section, shouting as he ran: "The world is one, long live Your Majesty!"

   There are also a large number of indigenous warriors, who also rushed into the castle one after another, killing and venting their anger when they saw the Spanish defenders. The natives were bullied too badly, as long as they seized the opportunity, they would never show mercy to the Spaniards.

   Corregidor Island was successfully captured, counting the losses during the landing: 43 people were killed by the Datong Army, and 185 people were killed by the native soldiers, regardless of minor or serious injuries.

  However, the number of patients in the Datong Army has reached 154, and 3 of them died of illness directly.

   It's like the Dutch attack Malacca, 90% of the casualties are from sickness. Because the main forces attacking Malacca were mercenaries recruited from Europe, and they were extremely unsuited to the climate when they first arrived in Southeast Asia.

   Fortunately, the Datong Expeditionary Army was well prepared, brought a doctor and a lot of medicinal materials, and stipulated that drinking unboiled water was not allowed.

   After taking Corregidor Island, the island was immediately converted into a military base of the Datong Army. Fuzhou-Zhuluo-Tortoisebill City-Coregidor Island, there is a steady stream of supplies, and the long-term combat failure will not be caused by lack of food.

  The Spanish fleet huddled in Mindoro did not dare to go north to cut off the food route of the Chinese army, because there were too many warships of the Sino-Dutch coalition forces, and they were afraid that they would not be able to return if they went north.

  …

  In Binondo district outside Manila, the leader of the Chinese is the missionary Chen Liangxun.

This guy took off his priest's clothes and put on a traditional Han costume. He brought thousands of Han people and their families to the port to greet the Datong army: "Chen Liangxun, an abandoned citizen from overseas, kneels to welcome the heavenly soldiers and generals, long live, long live, long live the Emperor of Datong!" Long live!"

  Fujian businessman Li Guangzhi, who was accompanying the army, picked up his stick and walked over, hitting Chen Liangxun on the head with one stick.

   "Ah... forgive me, forgive me!"

  Chen Liangxun screamed and fell to the ground, then got up again, kowtowed in pain and begged for mercy.

  Wang Hui stopped and said: "Come back, don't obey the military order!"

Li Guangzhi said: "General, this guy has forgotten his ancestors and has already believed in the Christianity of the red-haired ghost. He also gave himself a foreign name, usually wears foreign clothes, and often bullies the Han people in Luzon. Even the merchants who have just arrived in Manila to do business , and there are many people who are deceived by him, if you don't kill this person, it won't be enough for the people to be angry!"

  Wang Hui thought about it carefully: "Arrest this person's whole family and take him under custody. The rest of the Han people who believe in Christianity are not allowed to harass!"

   "Long live the General!"

  Other Chinese hurriedly shouted, as long as they can save their lives, they don't care about Chen Liangxun's life or death.

  The Fujian merchants accompanying the army, seeing Wang Hui arresting Chen Liangxun's family, took a breath of anger and stopped yelling at the remaining Chinese.

   "General, spare your life, General, please give up all your property!" Chen Liangxun said limply.

  He is really desperate, those **** Spaniards are determined not to allow religious Chinese to enter the city. Let them defend the outer forts, but even the Spanish defenders gave up the outer forts, and all shrank in the city and refused to come out.

  Wang Hui said with a cold face: "Your property will naturally be confiscated. As for whether you can survive, it depends on how useful you are."

"It's useful, the grassroots are useful," Chen Liangxun said like pouring beans into a bamboo tube. "The city walls of Manila are defended by the Pampanga soldiers. The Spanish army and the Japanese army have already withdrawn to the castle in the city. The grasslanders... the grasslanders are willing to take risks. Go and surrender those Pampanga soldiers."

  The Datong army had captured Chen Liangxun's wife and children, Wang Hui smiled and said, "Go."

  Chen Liangxun immediately rushed to the city of Manila and shouted in local dialect: "The Chinese emperor's army is coming, and the Spaniards can't hold it. As long as you surrender, you will not be held accountable for your previous crimes. If you dare to resist, kill them all!"

   There were thousands of Pampanga native soldiers, and their families also withdrew into the city.

  Hearing Chen Liangxun's words, some people's hearts were moved immediately, but more soldiers didn't believe it, because they killed Chinese people the most.

  Although the Spanish soldiers withdrew into the castle, there were still a few officers left on the wall.

  A Spanish military officer shouted: "It will be the rainy season in one month. As long as you persist for one month, the Chinese army will definitely withdraw. If you surrender, you will be retaliated by the Chinese, and you will be killed at that time!"

   These words are very effective.

  Yes, the rainy season will be in one month. Do the Chinese dare to continue the siege?

  The morale of the Pangbangya soldiers was immediately high, and some soldiers even shot arrows at Chen Liangxun.

  Chen Liangxun fled back in embarrassment, crying: "General, they are stubborn, and they are really trying to persuade them to surrender."

   "Trash, drag it down and lock it up!" Wang Hui said contemptuously.

  (end of this chapter)